Former Real Madrid star, Robinho was sentenced to serve nine years in prison after a court found him guilty of participating in a gang rape in 2013.

The sentence, was passed by an Italian court and convicted five other Brazilians for an assault conducted on an Albanian woman in 2013. The incident took place in Milan when the victim was 22 years old.

According to reports, the victim stated that the men offered her a great deal of alcohol at a nightclub and after she was sufficiently inebriated they dragged her out and raped her.

Robinho has consistently denied the rape and took to his Instagram page to express his thoughts. He stated that he had “already defended himself against the accusations, affirming that he did not participate in the episode”.

Although the verdict was against him he stated that “all legal measures” were being taken to appeal.

Robinho had a bright career until the allegations took over his life. After starting his career at Santos, he won two La Liga titles in four seasons at Read Madrid. After that he shifted to Manchester City for a record fee of £32.5m in the summer of 2008.

However, he struggled to make his mark and was loaned back to Santos in January 2010.

Robinho was capped 100 times by Brazil and spent two whole years at Manchester City. He later moved to AC Milan and managed to win a Serie A during his tenure.

However he returned to Santos for another loan in August 2014 before leaving AC Milan in 2015.

He worked for the Chinese Gurangzhou Evergrande for a brief spell in 2015 before moving to his current club, Aletico Mineiro in Brazil. He now hold a two year contract with Aletico Mineiro.

However, if his next appeal fails, Robinho will have no reason to worry about either contracts or clubs.

William Armstrong has a Ph.D. in International Relations, and an experienced journalist with 10 years of track record covering major global events. He has also assisted budding entrepreneurs to establish their startups for the better part of the last decade. He now covers technology stories with a business slant.